At The Beginning
by talkswithherhands
Summary: Daphne/Bay f/f ahead, you've been warned! Daphne and Bay meet on a bit of a different circumstance. Crappy summary, but i hope you will enjoy the story, please be kind and leave a review!
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: **As always, I own nothing!

**Reviews:** Would be greatly appreciated, as I earn no profits from this. :)

**A/N:** So I am stepping out of the box here after a seven-month writer's block to hopefully get myself back on track and I do hope that you all will enjoy this work. It may be a little rough around the edges due to lack of more information on the actual series, but nonetheless, please remember to FEED THE BARD all of your thoughts! Thanks!

**DEDICATION:** I want to dedicate this to my dear friend on twitter HannahSky, aka Anne, who knows exactly what it is like to live in a deaf world, yet still manages to be just as amazing as ever...

-1-

_**October 2000**_

"Mama!" the six-year old redhead cried out for her mother as her head pounded from the lights rushing past her vision. The stretcher creaked and bumped against the hard tile floor as the doctors rushed the fevered child toward the ER.

It felt as though someone had plugged her ears with seashells and her body was rummaging through a meat grinder, she felt so hot, and she couldn't move, the plastic binds the doctors had placed around her wrists kept her movement minimal as she cried out angrily at the doctors in their scrubs and masks, shouting at one another as they made their way down the hospital corridors.

"Everything is going to be okay, Daphne…" the voice droned, almost as if it was in slow-motion and the child squirmed against her bindings, crying. She just wanted her mother there, holding her, soothing her and letting her know everything would be okay.

-x-

"Please, tell me what is going on, it's been three and a half hours!" Regina Vasquez demanded the head nurse at the station, no longer able to handle pacing circles around the waiting room floor.

Her mother had long ago stopped trying to comfort her daughter, instead choosing to sit and meddle in the corner chair with an outdated health magazine, rolling her eyes at her daughters' impatience. She too was worried for her beloved granddaughter, but she knew from experience that there was nothing either woman could do in this instance but wait and pray for the best. It was in Gods' hands now, not that her pigheaded Atheist daughter would ever understand that.

"Ma'am, as soon as I know something, I will let you know-" the head nurse stated calmly, trying to not lose her patience with the short-tempered Latina.

"How can there be _no_ news whatsoever-?" Regina fired back.

"Regina, enough is enough, come sit by your Mother," Adriana scolded, finally as her daughters' voice rose with her temper.

"Ma, not now-"

"No…_ right_ now," Adriana shot, coolly. Regina huffed and stormed dramatically over to her mother's side and plopped down in the chair beside her, crossing her arms dejectedly, seething silently, and eyes burning a hole in the wall behind her mothers' head.

"Excuse me," a redheaded woman that had been sitting quietly in the opposite half of the room with her husband and young son came to the nurses' station. "Would you happen to have any news on when my daughters' surgery will be done? I just want to know if my husband, son and I have time to get some breakfast from the cafeteria?" she smiled, gently.

"Yes, ma'am," the nurse responded and clicked a few keys on her computer that beeped at her. "Dr. Thompson just finished the surgery itself, but it will be another half an hour before she is released from the operation room, you should have plenty of time."

"Thank you," the woman turned on her heel and walked back to her family, taking her son's hand and the father got up. Regina glowered at them as they walked away; having the distinct feeling that she had seen the family before… or at least a familiarity with them…

Before she could place it, footsteps sounded around the corner and the Doctor that had been working on her daughter earlier came through with a grim look on his face. She tried to stand but felt her knees get weak and sat right back down, her heart in her throat; she barely registered him whispering to the nurse before turning to look at Regina.

Adriana, knowing her daughter to fear the worst, took her daughters' hand and squeezed.

"Ms. Vasquez? I'm Doctor Trent Mobley, I have been working your daughter's case," the handsome gentleman in the green scrubs introduced himself. "I need to ask you a few questions, concerning her illness… have you noticed any strange symptoms out of the ordinary with your daughter?"

"None that would have scared me this badly to carry her to the E.R. at four in the morning, you mean?" Regina spoke around the lump in her throat, worried beyond words for her baby. "She's had a fever for a couple days now… she has hardly been able to get out of bed even to use the restroom, she won't keep anything down… I had believed she caught the flu from one of the kids in her pre-school."

"Hardly," Dr. Mobley stated gravelly. "Ms. Vasquez-"

"Regina, please," Regina stated, hating the use of her formal name.

"Regina I am afraid your daughter has a severe case of bacterial Meningitis, it's an inflammation of the membranes that surround our brain and spinal cord, it can be caused by a number of things, but the most common cause is a bacterium called _Haemophilus influenzae_ type b, it's most commonly referred to as Pfeiffer's Bacillus, and it usually strikes children around Daphne's age and younger…" Dr. Mobley explained.

"Oh my God," Regina was glad that she was still sitting, otherwise she would have collapsed.

"Now I noticed from your daughters' medical charts that she was neglected the vaccination as an infant that would usually have ceased any chances of this happening-"

"But I had her go through all the right checkups!" Regina stated, firmly. Her motherly protective state taking over, ensuring that this know-it-all not dare think that she had not taken proper care of her daughter.

"It's possible the hospital that you had taken her to as an infant may not have had the proper vaccinations, it isn't surprising despite it being a routine for the clinic to at least have referred you to a place that could – however the case may be, Daphne contracted the bacteria, most likely as you stated from a place in school… but we have it under control, her fever broke a little under an hour ago, and we've induced her into a medicinal coma to help her steer through the pain."

Adriana began muttering a prayer in Spanish. Regina felt herself sink lower into her chair, horrified that her baby was so sick.

"Unfortunately until the swelling goes down we will not be able to see the extent of the damage done… we have her on a set of antibiotics that should help speed up that process before the end of today, we will be able to wake her up then-" Dr. Mobley's words slowly faded into mumbles for Regina as she felt her chest tighten, hardly able to breathe, her baby, her Daphne was sick… and she had not even realized…

-x-

"Bay… Baby can you hear me?" Kathryn Kennish cooed to her six-year-old, running her fingers through her hair.

The doe-eyed, dark-haired child slowly regained consciousness from the morphine haze as she came to, seeing the smiling faces of her parents and her older brother with his Popsicle stained cheeks.

She felt her mouth go dry and she tried to open it to speak but her throat… oh how it screamed in pain. She whimpered, tears stinging her eyes and threatening to fall.

"Shh, baby don't try to speak, your throat needs to heal from your tonsils being removed," Kathryn eased her daughters' worries by gently stroking a finger over her nose, a soothing gesture that comforted Bay, ever since she was small.

"Is there anything we can get you, sweetie?" John Kennish asked his daughter.

Bay tried to speak, but remembering the pain from before, looked at her brother, she rubbed her throat.

"Water?" Kathryn asked. Bay scrunched her nose and shook her head.

"Here, write it down for me," John handed her a pencil and a napkin and she wrote in sloppy, six-year old chicken scratch 'popsicle.'

"Okay, baby girl, we'll be right back…" John helped his son, Toby off of the hospital bed and Kathryn kissed Bay's forehead once more before giving a longing glance at her daughter before walking out with her husband and son to retrieve soothing remedies for their daughters' sore throat.

Bay stretched leisurely and looked around the pastel white hospital room, noticing a curtain to her left that had a few shadows roaming behind it, and the sounds of muffled whispers and tears. A middle-aged Hispanic woman rushed out from behind the curtains, not even noticing Bay, and out of the room, holding her mouth as if she were going to be sick, tears streaming down her face.

"Regina!" an older Latina woman rushed after her. The nurse then pushed back the curtain muttering under her breath about inconsiderate women, and then smiled gently at Bay, however, the brunette did not focus on the nurse, but instead on the bright light from the large window shining down on a mane of strawberry blonde hair, bright dazzle-green eyes and a freckle-kissed round face that was set into a state of confusion and pain as she sat upright in her hospital bed.

She was no older than Bay, but she was certainly taller, with longer, lankier limbs and more beautiful than Bay had ever seen. She went to open her mouth and say something, but could not, so she simply watched as the nurse calmly spoke to the girl with paper and pen, the girl writing her own responses in return.

She too looked frightened as she tried to speak, but her words almost seemed… muffled? As if she could not form words correctly.

The nurse then wrote something else, and the girl took a moment to read, then looked out of the window, facing away from Bay, and Bay wished at that moment she could crawl over to the girl and somehow comfort her hurt. A moment passed, and then Bay was left breathless as the girl turned her sad eyes over to her, locking gazes and doing nothing but staring.

The nurse then clapped a hand gently on the redhead's shoulder to gain her attention and then the girl quickly wrote a response and the nurse nodded, getting up and walking out of the room, leaving the two children alone.

The redhead simply stared at Bay for a moment, and Bay sat frozen, unsure of what to do… she could not speak, and the girl was not attempting to. Then, as if the Heavens themselves had sent a sign, the redhead smiled meekly at Bay and lifted a hand, in a gentle wave. Bay smiled back, and forgetting once again that she could not respond verbally, opened her mouth only to be met with a searing pain in her throat that made her visibly wince and grab her throat.

The other girl, noticing the brunette's pain, grabbed her notepad and pencil and began writing in big block letters.

'WHAT HAPPENED TO YOU?'

Bay smiled at the irony of the girl understanding her pain and grabbed her own notepad that was slightly smaller and tried to write as clearly as possible…

'**THROAT SURGERY… YOU?**'

The redhead shrugged and wrote back.

'I LOST MY HEARING'

Bay looked just as surprised as the girl felt.

'**HOW?**'

'I GOT SICK… AND IT CAUSED ME TO LOSE MY HEARING… THEY SAY IT IS PERMANENT…' the redhead then dropped her notebook back in her lap and began to just draw circles.

Bay, sensing the girls' distress, slid out from under her covers and walked over to the other girls' bed, noticing a few tubes and wires hooked up to her skin. The redhead looked shocked when Bay hopped up into her bed and sat on the covers with her.

'**WELL I CAN'T SPEAK, YOU CAN'T HEAR… WANNA BE FRIENDS?**' Bay jotted down on the redheads' notepad. The girl smiled and wrote beneath Bay's statement…

'I'M DAPHNE... NICE TO MEET YOU'

'**MY NAME'S BAY… DON'T ASK**' the redhead gave her a funny look and then let out a small laugh, it sounded muffled, just as before when she had attempted to speak.

'**SO YOU REALLY CANNOT HEAR ANYTHING?**'

Daphne shook her head dejectedly, a frown etched on her face. Bay did not like that, so instead she took the pen and began to draw, a talent she absolutely loved, and often got in trouble for during school when she would begin to doodle instead of doing her class work.

She began to draw funny faces and silly animals that made Daphne laugh, it was a magical sound, like bells, Bay decided that she could easily draw funny things forever if she could be rewarded with the sounds of Daphne's laughter.

"Bay Kennish, what on Earth?" Kathryn scolded her daughter as she came back in the room holding an entire tray of assorted Jell-O, pudding desserts and popsicles. Toby was sucking on his own grape popsicle and grinning smugly at Bay as if he knew she was in trouble.

"You should not be out of bed young lady, let alone bugging another sick child," Kathryn placed the tray down on the joint bedside table. Daphne looked at the desserts with fascination as Bay scrambled to get out of the bed and back in her own for her treats. "I'm sorry if she bothered you sweetie," Kathryn spoke to Daphne, who only stared at the desserts, not hearing Kathryn's apology.

"Would you like one?" Kathryn asked, but the redhead continued to stare, and then looked away from the sweets to her pencil and paper, and back at Bay.

"What is it, Bay?" John asked as Bay waved to try and get her mothers' attention. Bay wrote down frantically on her notepad and showed it to her father and then Kathryn, who looked and saw the words 'SHE CAN'T HEAR', and she understood.

"Oh," Kathryn then decided to grab a vanilla Jell-O pudding cup and handed it to Daphne with a smile. "Here you are!" she practically shouted at the child. Daphne, however seemed unfazed and smiled at Kathryn in thanks before digging into her treat.

Bay smiled as she dug into another spoonful of green Jell-O, her favorite. Toby tried to finish his Popsicle faster in order to get Jell-O before his sister ravished it, however only caused himself more pain with a brain-freeze.

-x-

A few pudding cups and popsicles down the tray, Bay's parents had run off to handle some errands, and the nurse had finished her rounds of checkups and put Bambi on for the girls with the subtitles for Daphne to be able to understand.

Bay had crawled back over to Daphne's bed, claiming it was easier to see, but honestly just wanted to be closer to the girl, despite her inability to understand why. So the girls sat together and watched one Disney movie after the next until the Latina woman from earlier had returned. Daphne had not realized they were no longer alone until she felt Bay stiffen at the woman's presence.

Daphne lit up at the woman's entrance; she was carrying a Tupperware bowl filled with a dark stew like substance sloshing inside of it.

"Hey, baby, oh- who's your friend?" the Latina asked, setting the bowl down on the other side of Daphne's bed. Daphne reached out for the Latina, and despite their difference in looks, Bay realized that the woman must be the redhead's mother.

Regina wrapped her daughter in a protective, tight embrace, holding her close and kissing the crown of her strawberry hair.

"I'm so sorry," Regina spoke slowly, sounding out her lips to form the words as she looked at her daughter. "I promise you, I will make this right…"

Daphne just stared, confused. Regina stared for a moment, hardly unable to believe that she could not talk to her daughter anymore… she had spoken to the nurses, the doctors, already done hours of research online to look into finding the best teachers in the tri-state area, anything to help her and Daphne be able to communicate like they once did.

However, this did not stop the tears from pooling in Regina's eyes as she grieved for her daughters' loss at her expense. She would never be able to hear again.

Bay watched as Daphne reached up and touched her mothers' cheek, comforting her in her pain, and took this as a cue to leave. She quietly crawled out of the bed and returned to her own, quietly pulling the curtain after her, so as to give Daphne and her mother their privacy. She crawled into bed and felt the exhaustion take over, she was out within moments of hitting her pillow.

* * *

><p><strong>AN:<strong> Yayyy, first meetings are always so much fun.. cant wait to find out what happens next? Review and tune in! Thanks!


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: **Not mine!

**Reviews:** Yes, please!

**A/N:** So, wow! I cannot thank you guys enough for the reviews welcoming me back into the world of fanfiction; I hope to keep you all entertained! Here's chapter 2.

-2-

When Bay awoke the next morning, it was not to the sounds of her brother playing with his loud space rocket, or her father on his phone with his Agent or even her mother discussing medications and treatments for her with the nurse, but to the bright sunshine and cleanliness of the space of the room beside hers that had been occupied by Daphne just a few hours before.

She shot up, panicked trying to call out to her, but was stuck with only the pain of her scathed throat.

"Bay, sweetheart what is it?" Kathryn rushed to her daughter's side as Bay tried to open her mouth to speak, staring longingly at the bedside where the redhead should be… Daphne was gone, and she didn't know where to even start looking for her.

Tears began to leak unashamed down the brunette's face as she felt her mother pull her inward and hush her soothingly; believing her daughter had merely had a bad dream. Bay closed her eyes, wishing that were the case, just a dream… a bad, terrible dream.

-x-

_**Present Day, 2011**_

"It is ninety-nine point nine percent certain that Bay is _not_ related to you," the geneticist stated, solemnly and Bay's world shattered around her. She could feel her mother tense; hear her fathers' desperate voice, clearly begging to know whether this was even possible.

However, the world around her deafened and she could feel her heart screech to a halt as she tuned out the rest of the conversation, wondering why she had to pull all this mess up. Why hadn't she just left sleeping dogs lie?

It was nearly two weeks before they were finally able to reach out to the family of the child whose mistaken identity was as mixed up as her own, another four weeks had passed before the hospital finally managed to get the family to agree to meet the Kennish's at the genetic clinic to meet.

-x-

"What if this is all some huge mistake? I mean do we really need to meet these people?" Bay suddenly became insecure at the thought of meeting this other family, who only included Bay's biological mother and the Kennish's biological daughter, the father was apparently no longer in the picture.

"Honey, everything is going to be fine… remember, meeting these people changes nothing of our feelings for you," John explained to his daughter on the car ride over. "Right, honey?" he asked his wife, who had been staring out of the window, practically zoned out in her own world since this entire mess. It caused Bay to feel terrible for bringing this down on her mother, on her family period.

To make matters worse, Toby had not been of much help, teasing Bay relentlessly about being the actual daughter of a snaggle-toothed vampire, and every time it was mentioned around Kathryn, tears would blossom in her eyes and she would excuse herself to cry her heart out in the silence of the unused guest house. She thought no one could hear her but Bay would sit silently outside of the door, listening to her mothers' cries and she would cry with her, cry for ever putting her through this pain, for ever being born for that matter.

A good part of Bay wanted to personally find the nurse or doctor or whoever caused this mistake and punch their lights out, and the other half wanted to blame her biological mother, for not realizing the mistake in the first place.

She rationalized as well that she couldn't believe that even her mother, or Kathryn or whatever, could not have noticed either that Bay looked nothing like her, that it took sixteen years and a piece of paper with a pinprick of her blood on a Biology experiment to make her parents even realize that there was obviously something wrong with their perfect family portrait.

So instead of trying to pin the blame on anyone else, she took it upon herself to blame, for ever letting her curiosity go this far, she swore from this day on she would never dig so deep again.

"Here we are," the geneticist smiled as her office door opened and Bay was the last to stand as her parents practically jumped from their seats in order to meet their mystery daughter.

"Regina Vasquez, this is John and Kathryn Kennish, and their daughter Bay. John, Kathryn, Bay, this is Regina and her daughter, Daphne," as soon as the name was spoken from the doctor's lips, Bay had turned round in sync with greeting, to the dazzling blue-green eyes that had stunned her into silence many years before.

Bay's jaw dropped as a hint of familiarity slammed into her. The freckle-kissed round face, now thinner with accentuated jaw structure, lanky limbs were now not so gangly, but she stood very tall with a beautiful physique, her strawberry-blonde hair was much longer than she remembered, yet put it all together, she was still as beautiful as the Daphne she remembered from years ago.

It was _her_ Daphne… this couldn't be happening.

"Nice to meet you," Daphne beamed, using her hands to sign to the family as she spoke with muffled words. Despite the hearing aids in both of her ears, she was unable to hear herself speak, merely going along with the vibrations of her vocal cords.

Her kind smile dissipated into a lost look as she took in the looks from Kathryn and John's stunned expressions. However, as her eyes fell on Bay, a flash of recognition sparkled along her dazzling eyes. Bay felt frozen to the spot, unable to move…

_Say something, you dolt!_

How many times had she dreamt of this moment before? Of having a chance meeting with Daphne, and learning more about the mysterious girl that had managed to invade her mind for nearly ten years? Never in her wildest dreams did she wish for it to be like this, however.

"I guess I will leave you all to get reacquainted then," Dr. Gina smiled and exited the room, no one acknowledged her, however… not a word was uttered and Bay was certain that if a pin were to hit the floor, it would be loud enough even for Daphne to hear.

-x-

"You were very quiet back there," Regina spoke calmly to Daphne on the drive back home, signing to her at a stoplight.

"Wasn't much to say," Daphne said back. In truth, there were many things to say… most of them in fact, were said by her biological parents, but Daphne had not paid much attention, not that she could as they all seemed to jabber on and on, too quickly for even Daphne to keep up with their lips and her mother signing all of their words to her.

She had been more focused on the brunette girl whom was Regina's biological daughter… Bay Kennish.

She remembered the girl, from the hospital right after Daphne had first lost her ability to hear. Bay had been very kind to Daphne back then, kind and genuine as she shared a notepad and the sympathy of not truly being able to have an ability that should have been natural. Bay had not had a voice then, but she sure had one now, as she recalled watching Bay speak, mostly under her breath, snide remarks back to her mother and father after they would say something embarrassing.

But tonight had been different, after Bay realized who Daphne was, she barely registered the deaf girl at all, she refused to look Daphne in the eye and barely spoke two words to her, and that was only to say a farewell that Daphne nearly didn't catch as her eyes had been elsewhere on Bay's body…

Daphne came back to reality after that thought, at the touch of her mother's hand on her shoulder. Regina signed that they were home and indeed, they were. Back in the poverty-stricken half of Riverside, she sighed dramatically as she got out of the car but almost instantly cheered up at the loud vibration roaring past her in the driveway as a leather clad boy appeared on a motorbike.

Emmett Bledsoe, her best friend and fellow "deafie" as they referred to themselves, jokingly amongst the hearing world, pulled off his helmet, his spiked red hair naturally a mess beneath and a smile as he waved to Regina who was just stepping inside the house.

_You got time to go grab a bite?_ He signed to her. She looked at Regina and signed that she would be back soon.

_Make sure you are!_ Regina signed back, half-warning, half-joking. Emmett smiled, tossing Daphne her helmet and she buckled it on as she got on the back of the bike and he sped off. Riding Emmett's motorcycle was one of Daphne's favorite things to do in the world, other than playing sports, of course, it was fun, it was reckless, and most importantly, it was freedom from the world around her.

She had been so envious of Emmett when his father had bought him the bike as a sixteenth birthday present last summer. She had begged her mother for weeks before Regina finally caved in to letting her at least ride on the bike with Emmett, she was pretty certain that Emmett's mother and Regina's closest friend at that, Melody Bledsoe, probably had a few words to put in as well to help her along. Regina would probably have an aneurysm if she ever found that Emmett would sometimes just round the corner and let Daphne take control of the bike.

They arrived at one of their favorite hole-in-the-wall's in midtown, _Fondo Di Lupo_ which Daphne absolutely loved for the sheer fact that they had excellent vegetarian dishes. Emmett wasn't much on vegetarianism, but he would at least respectfully decline eating meat whenever he ate with her, another fact that made him Daphne's most loyal best friend.

"Ah, Daphne, how are ya?" Mr. Lupo, the owner beamed as he waved hello.

"Good, the usual, please?" she spoke, clearly.

"Two orders of Fried Zucchini, a side of spicy popcorn shrimp and two waters, comin' right up!" he rang them up. Emmett pulled out a ten from his wallet to pay for his half.

As they sat down with their order, neither of them acknowledged the doorbell as a few more teenage kids came in.

"Hey Pops," said a dark-skinned boy, joined by another two males, one heavyset and the other looking as if he could get swallowed up by his clothes. And then there was Bay Kennish, whom he wrapped his arm over her shoulders and smiled, she shot him a disgusted look and shrugged him off.

"Hey, son… I take it you guys are hungry?" he went ahead and rang up a couple orders.

"You got it, oh, and could I get an extra side of that fried zucchini? Bay loves it-"

"I can speak for myself, you know-" Bay retorted. In all truths, she couldn't figure out why she agreed to go out with Liam and his cronies for dinner… other than to get away from her parents and their pitiful faces and questioning looks, trying to decipher if she was alright with everything that had been going on.

"Hello, Bay, good to see you again, tell your folks I said hello," Mr. Lupo said as he handed the teens their trays.

"Will do," as she turned to follow Liam, she paused at the table before sitting down as her eye caught a flash of strawberry blonde…

The head in question turned as they passed and blue locked on brown and the same thought passed through both girls minds…

_What the Hell?_

Daphne smiled meekly over at Bay as she emptied her tray in the disposal. She almost looked as if she wanted to acknowledge her aloud, but then Liam stopped her train of thought by stepping between their line of sight and offering Bay her soda.

"Here you go, baby," he smiled, leaning down for a kiss. She rebuffed him.

"Quit it," she blanched and then tried to regain her sight of Daphne who had looked away, and was now walking out of the store.

"Wait!" she called out, but then remembered that Daphne would not hear her. She was ready to run after her but then saw outside the glass doors that Daphne was getting onto the back of a motorcycle with a boy whose face was primarily hidden behind his helmet.

_A motorcycle? Really? Why didn't I think of that?_

A sudden feeling of despair filled within Bay as she watched Daphne ride off on the back of the bike, and she wished that she could explain the emptiness that was slowly filling with anger and animosity toward her inability to understand the raging emotions inside of her.

She huffed as she sat down and began to eat, ignoring Liam's confused, hurt looks and the whispers of his stupid friends just telling him to forget about her "hormonal ways," and enjoy his food.

* * *

><p><strong>AN:<strong> ohh, more fun meetings between our favorite pair... and i just love cliffhangers! muwahaha! *AHEM* review? :)


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: **Don't belong to me…

**Reviews:** FEED THE BARD!

**A/N:** Yay, more reviews! YAY, another chapter!

-3-

Unlike her mother, Daphne was not an Atheist; she did believe in some sort of a higher power, that there was some form of reasoning behind everything that happens to a person in life. She usually loved to refer to the Fates of Greek Mythology when it came to times like this… times when someone of such high social grace and standing like Bay Kennish would suddenly be caught eating in one of Daphne's working-class neighborhood fast-food restaurants.

It was just too much to handle for one day, it had hurt seeing Bay reject her earlier warm welcomes and greetings, especially when she learned it had been Bay's intuitive science experiment that brought all of this madness about. As much as Daphne would love to blame Bay for causing her such confusing emotions, she would simply let Fate handle it for tonight.

Emmett dropped her off with little daylight left and she decided to shoot a few hoops to clear her head before the sun went down completely. Emmett had offered to stay, knowing something was up with his best friend, but she had told him to go, needing time alone to figure out all these raging emotions inside of her, why it kept happening and what Bay had to do with any of them.

Those dark eyes, how they had haunted and plagued her for years after she first met Bay, she had gone for weeks, wondering why she had not left some way of letting the girl contact her, but she knew that it would have probably been better for the two of them to have just gone off separate ways… but now it made her really think…

Why did Daphne feel so connected to Bay? Why is it now that they were meeting again? Other than the obvious being switched at birth thing… but is it possible that their lives are supposed to be intertwined? She continued to toss the ball at the hoop and failed miserably in successfully making the shots.

A hand on her shoulder stopped her and she jumped out of her skin, whipping around at the touch and noticing the worried look Ty gave her. Ty had been her neighbor for as long as she could remember, and practically like a big brother figure to her. He gave her a gentle smile and offered her the basketball back, having rolled down her driveway onto the pavement.

"You're off your game," he joked. She nodded hands on her hips, trying to catch her breath; she pulled her hair back into a ponytail and sighed, dropping her hands to her sides pathetically. "What is it?" Ty asked her, concerned.

"Nothing," she shook her head, waving off his worried stature. He raised a speculative dark eyebrow at her and smirked.

"Okay, you should go inside… it's getting late," he pointed up to the sky where one or two stars were now poking out of the dark sky. And Daphne smirked at him, breathlessly as if to say 'you're joking, right?'

"Go inside," he laughed and waved at her.

"Jerk!" she called after him, affectionately. He turned around with laughter in his dark eyes, and signed back to her.

_Love ya, too!_ And then took back off on foot across the street toward his house that he shared with his Aunt.

Daphne waited until he was no longer visible before she handled the ball in her hands, staring at its worn texture from years of use and abuse, she bounced it once, twice, feeling the vibration of the ball as it hit the ground and bounced back beneath her palm and fingertips. Loving the swift motion of the ball and gravity as she began to slowly weave the ball between her legs, then over her head and finally… into the basket.

She did a small hoorah for herself before the front door opened and her smile faded into a deer-in-the-headlights look from the glower her mother was sending her as she flicked the porch light on and off, basically signaling Daphne to hightail it inside.

-x-

"Bay Madeline Kennish, _where_ on Earth have you been? Your father and I have been worried sick," Kathryn scorned her daughter the moment she walked in the house.

"I told you I had a date with Liam," Bay retorted as she made her way for the stairs.

"I thought you broke up with Liam?" Kathryn stated, matter-of-factly, crossing her arms with a 'don't-try-me-young-lady' look.

"We did, not that it's any of your business… I am going to bed," Bay made her way up the spiral staircase.

"None of my –? Bay! Bay, get back down here! We are not finished-" the door slammed to Bay's bedroom window, immediately followed by deafening punk-rock music. "-talking." Kathryn sighed and headed back to cleaning up the kitchen.

-x-

Bay laid down on her mattress, still fully clothed, letting the pounding of the bass and drums from her speakers take over her body. Yet no matter how she tried, every time she closed her eyes all she could see were those sparkling eyes and kind smile.

She wanted to talk to Daphne, get to know the girl that she could not stop thinking about, perhaps figure out the reason behind why she had not stopped thinking of her for the past ten years.

"It's official, I am insane," Bay determined quietly as she tried to rationalize what she could even say to the deaf girl, not that she would hear her but she read lips, right?

_Just face it, Bay… you're better off asking the drywall for answers._ What on Earth _would_ she say to her anyway?

'Hi Daphne, I know you know me as the biological daughter of the woman who raised you, but I want to know why we didn't keep in touch from that day I had my surgery and you lost your hearing?' or even better…

'I swear I am not stalking you, but this whole situation is crazy, I can't stop thinking of you… lets be friends?'

Maybe she should just go down the road to the hospital and admit herself into the mental health clinic. Bay rolled her eyes and figured it was useless trying to make herself fall asleep with all these crazed situations in her head.

Before she could sit up completely from her bed, the knocking on her door signaled that Toby was trying to get her to respond, she knew only because if it were her parents they would have been trying to take the door off the hinges.

"What?" Bay snapped as she reared her door back. Toby held his hands up in defense.

"Whoa, sorry, I wanted to let you know I was going to the store… oh and Mom wants you to turn the music down – again," he shrugged.

"Whatever," Bay rolled her eyes. Toby stood for a minute, debating whether to speak his mind. "What?" she asked again, harsher this time.

"Look, I know you haven't really been all here since the whole switched at birth incident… but if it matters, you are still my sister – and… if you need to talk I am here," he said, a little rushed and then turned to leave.

"Toby…" she called out on auto-pilot, he paused and turned before taking a step down the stairwell. She opened her mouth once, twice, yet no sound came out. She suddenly felt like a childish brat, having treated him so badly even though he had always been a supportive, if not somewhat annoying older brother, to her. "Can I come?"

"Sure," he looked a bit perturbed, but smiled. She grabbed her jacket off of the back of her door and shut her radio off before tailing after him. The siblings rode in silence to the store until Toby parked and went inside, Bay opted to stay in the car and watch the semi-empty parking lot.

-x-

Daphne paid for the half-gallon of orange juice and thanked the cashier before heading for the exit of the store. She opened the jug and took a long swig, she loved orange juice, and could not stand not having any in the house, she knew her mother would be severely angry if she discovered Daphne out so late but it wasn't that far of a walk.

Before she knew what was happening however, a strong hand grabbed her forearm and yanked her around, causing her to spill the orange juice. She was about to scream but another hand tried to cover her mouth.

Adrenaline rushing, she kicked at the man whose face was nearly covered by a blood red bandana, she managed to find the corner of that hand and bit down as fiercely as she could, unable to hear his scream of pain, nor did she care as she yelled as loudly as possible and kicked him again, in the gut, and began to run as fast as possible in the opposite direction.

Next thing she knew she was being tackled, this time by a much smaller man, she felt her head connect with asphalt and struggled to keep her bearing as she saw stars and the man yanked her up by the hair, she screamed as loud as she thought she could, but then saw the blade and felt its cold steel against her throat, she silenced herself, the fear storming through her blood, she was ripped around and saw the man yelling at her, spit flying from his face onto hers, she squinted and got angry and yelled back.

"LEAVE ME ALONE!" her muffled voice hopefully giving him the hint that she couldn't hear. The back of his hand then connected with the left side of her face, part of it nicking her head injury and causing her to see even more stars, she bit her lip to keep from yelling again as he shoved her to the ground.

She was about to try and fight back when he tried to hold her down and the other guy came along and began trying to rip off her clothes but then a bright light grew close and she could feel the vibrations of a very loud engine, both men looked like deer in the headlights so to speak and let Daphne go, scrambling as a car flew past her, nearly taking her out if she had not rolled another two inches toward the right and she realized she did not recognize the car but it continued to chase the two men and then hit one of them.

He flew back into the hood and then rolled off of the car, and remained still for a few moments, scaring Daphne that he may be dead, but then he got up, slowly and began trying to take off as the car flung around and began chasing the other guy.

The second man came back around, leaping over the hood of an old Honda and grabbed the other guys arm and they took off together the car zoomed past Daphne again and tried to hit the men but the boys were smarter and wound up causing the car to crash into a fence that they attempted to climb over. The impact caused the car to stop before going completely through and the two boys flew forward into a pond over the fence.

Daphne could not move, the fear pulsing through her veins caused her legs to feel weak so she remained sitting, bruised and scratched to Hell in the parking lot, just staring dumbly at the car that just saved her life…

A young man then ran past her, yelling, he was in his teens, probably no older than Daphne, with reddish hair and was headed to the car as fast as his legs could carry him. Daphne managed to get up as well; she tried to stand but felt the sharp sting in her left ankle and knew that she must have fractured it while trying to get away. She found a shopping cart and used it for leverage as she made her way to the car where the young man had nearly ripped off the door and was pulling out a girl from behind the wheel.

He laid her on the ground and Daphne could see that she was semi-conscious but had a nasty gash on her forehead and arm, possibly from the impact where she tried to shield herself. As she got closer, she gasped loudly as the boy brushed the girls' long, curly dark locks from her face and she recognized her savior.

"Bay!" Daphne must have spoken aloud, because then the young man looked up at Daphne and spoke, Daphne did not catch it however.

"Help me!" he yelled again.

"Oh! Right," she then helped him lift Bay's head into her lap. He then waved his hand in front of Daphne's face and looked confused, she then realized he must have been talking to her and she hadn't heard him.

"I'm deaf," she explained. "I can read your lips though."

"I'm going to call for help, stay with her?" he asked. She nodded and he handed her a clean towel from the backseat. Daphne accepted it and then pressed it to the gash on Bay's head. She watched the boy pull out his phone and dial a number before stepping away.

She turned her attention back to Bay and began threading her fingers through Bay's hair, trying to see if there were any further injuries. After assuring that there were none, she simply stared at the beautiful brunette whose head lolled in her lap, as she tried to keep it still Bay's eyes began to open.

Her lips moved, but she could not decipher what she was saying, for the first time in her young life, Daphne truly hated her disability. She could not hear if she was in pain, or if she needed something, she could only stare helplessly.

"Try not to move," she spoke slowly. "You're going to be okay." Bay's eyes rolled back into her head and she passed out. Daphne placed her hand over Bay's heart, feeling her own relieve pressure when she felt the steady beating beneath her palm.

Tears pooled in her eyes, this was her fault, if she had not broken the rules and attempted to go out this late, she would not have been hurt… she would not have needed saving… and Bay would not be laying in her arms, possibly dying.

The boy knelt back down beside her and made Daphne look at him as he spoke but with tears in her eyes, she could hardly even see his lips moving.

"Ambulance on its way… parents called… you okay?"

"'M fine," Daphne choked out.

Flashing red and white lights of the ambulance signaled that help had arrived, Daphne did not want to leave Bay's side, but then was also escorted to the ambulance as the medic realized her disability and signed to her that she had wounds to be taken care of as well.

Daphne and the young man crawled into the back of the ambulance where Daphne refused treatment until the medics promised to make Bay better; she took the brunette's hand and squeezed it, feeling her heart break at the unresponsive limp.

The medic then grabbed Daphne's attention again and began to sign for the boy.

_Are you Daphne?_ She nodded to him. His eyes widened in response. He then spoke clearly enough to her face so she could read his lips.

"I'm Toby Kennish; I guess you and I are siblings." Daphne took a moment to gaze at Toby, noticing their similarities, the red hair and blue eyes, the strong jaw and same physique build. He also had a crooked smile that reminded her of John's when she first met him.

"Nice to meet you," she said to him, just like she said to her biological family when they met. He nodded with a smile and almost with uncertainty, decided to shake hands rather than hug, before both of them turned their attention back to Bay.

* * *

><p><strong>AN:<strong> uh-oh... what on earth could happen next? i dont know, because i havent even written it yet! but you can submit some ideas in your lovely reviews and maybe help the Bard figure it out! :)


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